As Raja squeaked out something or the other about working together, Rhiya considered her options. She could ditch the first-year pretty easily and try the Lava Field on her own, but chances were someone would notice her solo act and complain, especially if she won the chocolate frogs, which she would. That would probably lead to some sort of talk with Professor McKindy, and she wasn’t here for that. She was here to win, fair and square. She glanced around the area looking for other groups she could join, groups with another second or third year, but everyone had paired up pretty quickly.

Well, that was that then. Turning back to Raja, she said, “I’m Rhiya. Let’s go.” She marched off towards the field moving quickly so that no one else would get ideas about joining the group. It was apparent her annoyance at the boy had intimidated him some, and Rhiya did not feel bad about that one bit. He could blow his eyebrows off on his own time, not hers.

Rhiya picked up a metal disc from the box and kept moving, hopping easily from one green patch to another before coming to a stop in front of a sea of red. She was about to cast a quick Carpe Retractem on her own when she saw her younger brother, Dhruv, tackling the field a short ways off with his own group. He was always telling her she needed to work on being a team player, and maybe she was feeling a little bit bad about being so curt with Raja earlier on. It wasn’t entirely his fault he was a dumb first-year; all first-years were dumb, everyone knew that. They couldn’t help it.

Holding back a sigh, Rhiya turned around and said, “So, what do you think we should do to get across?”

Raja looked up at the girl, her body making very clear that she didn’t particularly want to be talking to him, and her utterance doing little to dispute. He didn’t catch it fully, but it was clearly... more

“Yay!” He was so glad Rhiya was still willing to work with him even though he’d apparently annoyed her initially. Raja really didn’t want his first class experience to be mentally noted as tried to... more

Of course Raja wanted to use “the rope one”. Rhiya had known he was going to say that as soon as he opened his mouth. For reasons she couldn't fathom, he seemed determined to blow his eyebrows off.... more

It seemed like she was going to say no, and Raja felt his disappointment mounting, but to his surprise and relief, Rhiya said he could try it. “Thanks!” he said, giving her a quick squeeze. He didn’t ... more

Rhiya stiffened at the unexpected hug from Raja then patted him on the back awkwardly. It was hard not to (unwillingly) kind of like the kid when he was this genuinely enthusiastic and excited. She... more

“Oh no, you fell?” Raja was far less concerned about the red-turned disc and more about the fact that she’d fallen over. “No worries about having to double back. You okay?” Rhiya didn’t seem hurt,... more

Rhiya waited semi-patiently as Raja pulled off a successful Wingardium Leviosa . “Nice job.” They only had to do this, what, another 30-40 times? She looked ahead eyebrows in dismay at how far they... more